What’s the point in pride?

The rainbow project explain...

For many, Pride is the best party of the year , a time to let loose and party through the night, celebrate the wins we’ve had and the fact that we live in a society where the gays can, in fact, take over the city for a day. For many others it’s one of the biggest protests of the year, a chance to show up loud and proud for LGBTQIA+ rights and equality, taking up space and being visible in the town or city where you live. For most people, it’s probably a bit of both.

We’re launching right into Pride season and, I think, for many of us across the UK and Ireland, this particular season is one tinged with conflicting emotions.

It’s true to say that we have come so far in the past few decades, with growing public acceptance of LGBTQIA+ people and identities, people feeling more able to come out and be themselves, and increased representation of our communities in public life and the media. In Northern Ireland we’ve achieved same-sex marriage, adoption rights, removing the ban on blood donations and pardons for historical convictions, all within the past decade. We now have three openly gay MLAs (one of whom is an Executive Minister) and as of this month Belfast has its first openly gay mayor.

It’s all very much worth celebrating!

It’s equally true to say that, here and around the world, LGBTQIA+ communities are experiencing one of the strongest, most coordinated and wellfunded pushbacks on our rights and equality that we have experienced since decriminalisation.

This global anti-LGBTQIA+ movement has continued to push against our rights, using the increased visibility of trans people as a wedge to divide our communities whilst working to undo any progress that has been made for all LGBTQIA+ people, not just trans communities. The pretence of ‘standing up for LGB people’ crumbles when these anti-trans people and movements get the opportunity to pass bans on drag performances, or harass butch-presenting lesbian women in bathrooms, or further police how LGBTQIA+ communities live, express ourselves, and enjoy our rights and freedoms.

It’s clear that our protests, actions and voices are needed now more than ever.

Maintaining that duality of Pride as both a celebration and coming together of our communities, as well as being a protest to give voice to the issues we still face, is essential. These issues are important, they are urgent, they need action and we need to do our utmost to build movements with LGBTQIA+ communities and our allies to tackle them. What’s also important is caring for each other, revelling in the queer joy and community that Pride celebrations afford us, feeling safe and able to take up space in our towns and cities, and building a sense of community care and solidarity with other LGBTQIA+ people who you may not know or interact with.

In The Rainbow Project, we’ll be using Pride as a platform to speak both within and outside our communities about our 5 key policy priorities to meaningfully improve the lives of all LGBTQIA+ people in Northern Ireland. These priorities are:

• Banning conversion practices

• Improving gender affirming healthcare

• Reducing anti-LGBT hate crime

• Advancing LGBTQIA+-inclusive education

• Eliminating HIV transmissions by 2030

This is by no means a comprehensive list of the issues facing LGBTQIA+ communities, or of the issues that we’re working on in our lobbying, campaigns and services. It is moreso a recognition of five of the key priorities for our communities where we have the ability to make change that would positively impact the lives of all LGBTQIA+ people in Northern Ireland.

We’ve been pushing the needle on many of these issues for years. From convening the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition to the recent release of cross-sector research on experiences of conversion practices, we’ve been building support for a ban on these practices both within and outside the Assembly and Executive. We’ve consistently raised issues around gender affirming healthcare, just last month hosting an all-island LGBTQIA+ Forum focused on the topic, while pushing hard on the inclusion of all LGBTQIA+ people in all areas of healthcare.

We’ve also been working to reduce hate crime and increase reporting and support for victims through our Hate Crime Advocacy Service, and have been working closely with the Justice Minister and Department to progress updates to our hate crime legislation. We collaborate closely with our colleagues across the LGBTQIA+ and women’s sectors to ensure that young people across Northern Ireland have access to better, more comprehensive and LGBTQIA+inclusive Relationships and Sexuality Education. Our aforementioned Sexual Health Officer has also been working tirelessly to tackle stigma and improve access to STI testing and support services for those living with HIV.

We certainly can’t do any of this alone. All of the progress for LGBTQIA+ people has been achieved through working together across communities, across sectors, across organisations, and harnessing that collaboration to create an environment where change is unavoidable. Every scrap of legal protection and extension of rights has come after an uphill battle to often force the Executive, Assembly or even the UK Government to act.

Chief among these was the mass movement for marriage equality, which saw thousands of LGBTQIA+ people and allies taking to the streets to rally for a change to the law. The Love Equality coalition, comprising LGBTQIA+ organisations, trade unions, human rights organisations, and other campaigning groups across society in Northern Ireland, was extremely successful in building that movement and achieving consensus across society for a change to the law to allow same-sex couples to marry. This is the kind of energy, collaboration and movement-building we need to tackle the current wave of antiLGBTQIA+ rhetoric and regression of rights both locally and around the world.

Across the UK and Ireland, and further afield, LGBTQIA+ organisations and communities have been coming together to reflect, strategise and resist this rights regression. Whether it’s Trans Equality Together in the Republic of Ireland, the Ban Conversion Therapy Campaign across the UK, or the countless grassroots and volunteerled groups and campaigns sprouting up across these islands, there is a huge amount of work already under way to mount a fight-back. We need to redouble those efforts locally, especially during Pride, where we have an opportunity to reach out beyond our communities to invigorate support and make the case for change.

So when you’re out and about this Pride season, celebrating and protesting and doing whatever it is you do on Pride, remember that there is still a huge body of work to be done for LGBTQIA+ communities in Northern Ireland. Remember that there are many who don’t feel they can celebrate this year, because their lives and identities are being so forcefully targeted in politics and the media . But also remember that it’s okay to let loose, to enjoy yourself, to revel in that community spirit and togetherness, while at the same time building movements and working together to create a better, safer, more equal future for all LGBTQIA+ people in Northern Ireland.